#mechanicmonday features Kevin Marriner Jr.

Kevin Marriner Jr. of Cape May, New Jersey.

For our last Mechanic Monday of January, we are excited to feature Kevin Marriner Jr. of Cape May, New Jersey!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with PBMA’s Mechanic Monday series, this is where we feature one mechanic each week, who is chosen randomly from the pool of nominations that we receive. Mechanic Monday is all about mechanics supporting fellow mechanics, and we are proud to partner with Abbey Bike Tools, Cycling Industry News, and People for Bikes to share these great features with you.

Kevin Marriner is a mechanic at Cape Island Bikes in Cape May, New Jersey, and he’s also a USAC-licensed race mechanic. He told us that being a professional mechanic is something he “just fell into” after working full-time as a photographer, but we think there was more than just a happy coincidence that led him to our industry. Here is Kevin’s story, in his own words:

“I've been involved in cycling ever since I was a kid on a BMX bike, in those days I was always on a bike; I was also very curious about how things worked so I attempted to fix any issue with my bike before I took it into the shop (after I inevitably ran into an issue).​There was a period when I stopped riding during middle school and high school, but I was involved in a motorcycle accident 2 years after high school and I started riding again to try and keep my weight in check after the accident. I rode road bikes off and on for the next four years and then in 2012 I rode across the country (with Bike and Build), and during that trip I fixed many of the issues that arose with my friends’ bikes and kept everyone moving.

When I got back from that trip I went back to working full time as a photographer and training over the winter. The next spring, I started racing road and the newspaper I was a freelance photographer for was going through some changes, so I was looking for some work to offset the reduction in assignments. My friend was the mechanic at a bike shop inside of a surf shop and needed some help over the summer, so he asked me to come on with him. I enjoyed the job, but a month and a half after I started there, he moved to another state. I was left to fend for myself. The owner of the surf shop and I did not get along very well, and I was offered a job at another shop (the one I used to take my BMX bike to as a kid, no less) which I took.

That is where I fell in love with being a bike mechanic. The owner of that shop taught me everything he knew. We spent the next four years working together, learning from each other, and bouncing ideas off each other.

My favorite moment in cycling ever has to be the day my 30 friends and I reached the Pacific Ocean after having ridden almost 4,000 miles together. I don't think I will ever achieve something that meaningful ever again. My favorite memory from being a bike mechanic was the time I spent at the Olympic Training Center during the Race Mechanic Clinic.

To the aspiring mechanic, I would say to take every opportunity to further yourself or enhance your knowledge. Go to every continuing education clinic you can, work the pit at a race, volunteer with a NCAA team, [and] learn something new every single day. You never know when the most innocuous piece of knowledge will come in handy.”

Kevin’s advice to aspiring mechanics is something that even the most veteran among us should take to heart; as our industry grows and changes, it is more important than ever for each of us to try to learn something new every single day. Our profession, our industry, and our selves will only be better for it.

That’s all for this week! Thank you for following along with our series and sharing our support for our fellow mechanics. We’ll be back next week with a new feature. In the meantime, click here to learn more about our 2018 Mechanic Monday series, and here to learn more about how to nominate your favorite mechanic!